On Friday, February 28, Fossil Ridge High School hosted the annual Fossil’s Got Talent. Through Academic Council, the event raised money for students who are motivated to read in areas in Africa where they have limited access to books. There was a miracle minute, as well as a chance to donate books to make this easier.

A total of ten students participated from all grade levels. Events ranged from singing and glow-in-the-dark drumming to yo-yoing and hula hooping. The wide variety of talents at Fossil’s Got Talent shows how diverse our school is. 

After much discussion, the judges had to make an impossible decision. There were two winning acts, one chosen by a panel of judges, and one by the audience members. John Garner, one of Fossil’s choir teachers, and Kim Salz, a language arts teacher, as well as our principal, Dr. Julie Chaplain judged the acts. The panel of judges chose senior, Ryan Cleverly. He sang “Her Voice” from The Little Mermaid. Cleverly won the judges over with his beautiful voice but modestly stated, “It was so fun to compete with so many talented people, any one person could have won!” 

The audience voted through a wheel, each section of the wheel had a name written on it, and students turned in the name of their choice to vote.

The People’s Choice award went to the Sax Quartet. Senior, Anthony Dupont arranged and performed a mash-up of pop songs with his saxophone quartet. He decided to participate again this year, after receiving the People’s Choice award last year with the same group. “I’m a senior this year, and I also have three other senior friends who play saxophone with me.” The mash-up featured hits like “Despacito” or classics like “Careless Whisper”. Dupont congratulates all participants from the event, “Everyone was great!”

Events like Fossils Got Talent are so important to our school’s culture as they celebrate each other’s skills. In addition to the 100 dollar prize for Cleverly and the Saxophone Quartet, Academic Council received many donations to help with their project. Students donated a total of 700 dollars for the library in Ethiopia, as well as 50 books.  Todd Pfeifer, Academic Council Advisor stated, “We are still in the process of collecting educational books from the different departments at Fossil Ridge, so we hope to send over many more books.” Donate here.

Edit: Comma removal in caption

Gallery • 13 Photos

Caroline Sears

Sebastian Colino played the drums with a twist: his drumsticks glowed in the dark when he played the rhythm.